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Saturday, March 25, 2017

Old School Box Breaks: 99-00 Fleer Ultra Basketball Hobby

So here is the 2nd of the 3 boxes that I purchased as a lot on Ebay. This particular product takes me back to a fun time in my collecting career. Game Used cards were starting to become a staple in a lot of sets starting in 1999, and though they were still tough to pull, they were starting to become just a little bit easier to pull. I remember buying a lot of this as a kid so it was something I definitely wanted to take a crack at when I saw the lot on Ebay.

What To Look For: Again from a 1999 perspective, SP'd rookie cards were pretty popular. In this product rookies were seeded 1 out of every 4 packs so rookie cards of Elton Brand, Steve Francis, Lamar Odom, Baron Davis, and Shawn Marion would be the top rookies to get. Unfortunately this ended up being a pretty mediocre draft class. It was a semi solid, but not spectacular class. The top 5 i mentioned had their brief success in the hobby, but none of it really lasted long. Besides rookies, Fleer Ultra is known for Platinum Medallion and Masterpiece parallels. The Platinum Medallions are numbered to 50 for veterans and 25 for rookies and of course Masterpiece parallels are 1 of 1s. The hardest insert set is the Millennium Men which are serial numbered to 100. As with most 90's inserts, get the right guy and you'll have yourself a pretty good card worth a nice chuck of money. Feel the Game memorabilia cards can be found too, but it's only player worn and of rookies so although at the time this was a desirable set, as the rookie class progressed most of the cards in the set aren't worth much despite the 1 out of 7 box odds. You can also pull Fresh Ink autograph cards and though the checklist has a TON of mediocre to bad names, you still have guys such as Scottie Pippen, Ray Allen, Shaq and other stars to pull.

Overall Thoughts: Yet another fun trip down memory lane! One thing that amazes me about this set is the top notch photography. Man it's good. Even common players have outstanding game action shots. This has to be one of the best sets made in regards to the game photos used. As far as the contents, I think even in 1999 this would be considered an Ok box. Not brutal, but not bad either. No huge hit like a memorabilia card, a Millennium Men Insert, an Autograph, or a Platinum Medallion parallel. The best card I'd pull would be a Parquet Players which is out of 3 boxes. The two biggest hits were of Antawn Jamison (aforementioned Parquet Players and Heirs To The Throne)..which back in 1999 wouldn't have too bad, but Jamison never really lit the hobby on fire so his cards don't go for much today. The rookies were dreadful...regardless of the year as the best one was of Jason Terry. The World Premiere inserts are sooooo awesome looking. I love the die cut design and again at the beginning of the 1999 season, Lamar Odom stuff was actually highly coveted so this would have been a solid insert to hit. I also love the Gold Medallion die cut parallels. The Good Looks inserts aren't really anything special, which is probably why they are the easiest to hit. The Parquet Players and Heirs To The Throne are also really cool looking. Overall with the price I paid for the box, worth the nostalgic trip down memory lane. Here are some of the hits, including some of the base cards to show off the photography!

2 comments:

It doesn't look like you had any sticking...that's surprising, but good! I am one card short of the set, Ultra is my favorite brand. I didn't pay close enough attention and purchased the 2001-02 Fleer Platinum reprint. (Steve Francis)

About Me

My name is Chris Puente, I'm 27 years old and have been collecting Sports Cards and Memorabilia for a little over 20 years. I decided to make this blog just as a fun way to showcase my favorite cards in my collection.